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Karaka Whips

June 10, 2010

Although David Morgan is known for its leather whips, we understand the cost can be prohibitive for some. Since many new whip enthusiasts aren’t sure if they want to pay the price for a leather whip, we provide a synthetic version made by Karaka of New Zealand.

Karaka Products is one of New Zealand’s leading providers of whips. Because the whips are synthetic, the cost is much lower than a leather whip. They are also low maintenance. Not only can they get wet, but they work well even when wet. They can be used in the snow or mud. And if you get them dirty, water will clean them. They do not rot, will not break easily, and are maintenance free. They do not stretch, and there is no need to add any dressing. Inexperienced users can feel secure knowing that they will not damage the whip.

While you can find a cheap whip on Ebay, they will likely be too light, too loose, and a real challenge to crack. Don’t buy a wall hanger, get started in the right direction with a Karaka.

Karaka Stockwhip (6 ft)

Karaka Bullwhip (8 ft)

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Karaka Whips

Leather Whips

Akubra Heads West

May 28, 2010

Late May kicks off the summer vacation season, and what better place to have an adventure than the great outdoors, in particular the American West? Whether camping, horse riding or fishing, you’ll want a great hat for a companion.

The following pictures are from a tour of the Northwest we took with Akubra hats and Karaka whips in early May, we can personally recommend these sights and outfitter stores!

Dinkum Gear in the Reed Opera House. Salem, Oregon.

Highway 395 in Eastern Oregon

The Angler Hat. Chukar Park in Eastern Oregon

The Snowy River Hat. South of Jackson, Wyoming

Cows waiting for their hat fitting. South of Jackson, Wyoming

Beaver Creek Hat and Leathers. Jackson, Wyoming

The Cowboy Shop. Pinedale, Wyoming

Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters. Casper, Wyoming

Looking into Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park. Outside of Bozeman, Montana.

Western Outdoor Store. Kalispell, Montana, Gateway City to Glacier National Park.

Home Sweet Home

A Memorable Whip

May 14, 2010

We recently received a whip from Mike Hines, MD for repair. It was a beautiful fifteen foot bullwhip made by Swaine Adney Brigg in the UK and in excellent condition. Along with the whip, he sent us a story on how he discovered it. With his permission, here is the story:

As a youngster growing up in Texas, I had developed a longstanding appreciation of the appeal cast by a skillfully wielded bullwhip. My fascination began with Lash LaRue movies and the marvelous circus wild animal trainer Clyde Beatty in the 1940’s and never waned. Then, in 1952, I saw a movie entitled “Kangaroo” (Peter Lawford, Richard Boone, Maureen O’Hara) filmed in Australia, and it included a long, 5 minute bullwhip fight between Lawford and Boone. I was hooked for good, except I couldn’t find a whip to own that I felt met the standards my dreams demanded.

In the summer of 1955, after my sophomore year in college, a high school classmate and I spent 2 months riding around Europe and England on used motorcycles (and using the accumulated savings account I had started in the 3rd grade for funding my part). Our stay ended in Great Britain (we flew home from Glasgow, Scotland). During our two-day stay in London, we meandered amongst the upscale shops downtown and, quite by chance, into a store specializing in leather goods (another fixation of mine). The company, Swaine Adney Brigg, is appointed as “Whip and Glove Makers” to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The prices were (and still are) quite high and we were “running on empty”…..BUT…..there on display away from the luggage and umbrellas was “The Whip”. I don’t remember the price, but it wasn’t in the category of the other products there.

It was an epiphany; it was, at that moment, THE reason I had crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It became mine and was the single souvenir of my summer in Europe that I brought back (besides the unforgettable memories, of course.) I have promised it to my only grandson, now ten years old, who seems to share my respect for this beautiful example of the whip maker’s craft. I was told by the store representative (they aren’t “Salespersons” in upscale London shops) that it is kangaroo hide, so it is a constant connection with the dream born of my movie going youth and nourished over the decades to this day.

Swaine Adney and Brigg is still in existence, though we don’t see any whips online. However, they do still make the James Bond attaché used in the movie, “From Russia With Love”.

David has two of their whips: a bullwhip and a lion tamer whip.

The Lion Tamer Whip’s handle is 33 inches long, while the thong stretches to 88 inches. Definitely the length needed when facing a lion!

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Whips and Whipmaking

Braiding Fine Leather

Whips of the West

New Panama Hats at David Morgan

April 16, 2010

Along with our new Tilley hats featured in the last post, we are also pleased to offer two new Panama hats. These hats are blocked in the United States. The bodies are made of toquilla fiber hand woven in Ecuador. They are reinforced in the pinch and at the base of the crown to help protect the hat at its weakest points. Teflon coats the fibers for water and oil resistance while maintaining its breathability.

The Darwin Panama takes the Panama down under. Like a true Aussie hat, the brim is turned down in the front and the back. We’ve added our own braided kangaroo hat band for a touch of the Outback. The crown is 4 inches at the front and back, rising to 4 1/2 inches at the sides. The brim is 3 inches.

The Panama Fedora is an elegant hat at an affordable price. The snap down brim has a thin hidden wire at the edge to retain your chosen brim shape. The brim is 2 1/2 inches and the crown peaks at 4 1/2 inches. The black grosgrain hat band holds a removable feather.

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Panama Hats

Fedoras and City Hats

New Hats from Tilley

April 1, 2010

David Morgan is pleased to offer two additional hats from Tilley: the Airflo Hat and the Airflo Hat with Neck Protector. Both are crushable and packable and will not shrink. And, like all Tilley hats, they are guaranteed for life.

Designed for hot weather, they are certified with a UPF of 50+, the highest UV protection rating given. But don’t think of these hats only for sun protection. Their water resistance makes them great rain hats.

The Airflo has a 3/4 inch mesh in the crown that helps you remain cool and comfortable. At four ounces, you’ll forget it’s on, even in hot weather. The hat is made of Nylamtium fabric, a strong water and mildew resistant form of nylon. Colors are Natural with Green under-brim or Khaki with Olive under-brim

The Airflo Hat with Neck Protector has all the advantages of the Airflo with two additional features: a tuckaway neck protector and Insect Shield® protection. Wear the neck protector loose over the shoulders or Velcro it under the chin. The protector can be tucked under the back brim. The odorless and invisible Insect Shield® helps keep biting insects at bay and will keep performing through 70 washings. Color is Khaki with Olive under-brim.

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Tilley Hats

Tulips in Western Washington

March 19, 2010

After a long and hard winter for much of the country, the appearance of brightly colored tulips are a welcome sign of warmer weather. In Western Washington, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is ready to begin. A week early, the flowers should bloom the last week in March. David Morgan is pleased to offer a selection of tulip jewelry handcrafted especially for the festival by Warren Jewelers in Kirkland, Washington.

One of the finest pink tulips, this late blooming Pink Diamond variety is grown in the Skagit valley. The tulip is portrayed here in full bloom with open petals. The leaves and flower are sandblasted for a textured finish. Also available as earrings.

The Dutch city of Delft created magnificent artwork from the 16th to the 18th century. Like one of their famous tiles, this piece captures the tulip’s graceful beauty. All but the leaves of this piece has a sandblasted finish. Also available as a necklet.

The tulips portrayed in this sterling silver necklet grow in Washington’s Skagit Valley. The flowers are sandblasted with a polished border.

Warren Jewelers has also created several Tenby daffodil pieces as part of its flower jewelry collection. The Tenby daffodil is native to Pembrokeshire, Wales and blooms around March 1, St. David’s Day.

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Warren Jewelers

Lost Wax Casting and Stamping

March 5, 2010

David Morgan’s silver jewelry is made using one of two methods: stamping or lost wax casting. Both methods have their advantages, and each piece is designed with those advantages in mind.

Most of our Northwest Native-American jewelry is made by stamping the metal. First, a steel die with the piece’s reverse image is made. The die stamps down onto a pre-cut piece of silver and impresses the die’s image into the metal. This method also has the advantage of work hardening the metal. A work hardened metal is stronger and more resistant to wear. Once the piece is stamped, the recessed areas are antiqued. An oxidizing solution is applied to the metal which turns it dark. Since tarnish is an oxidized surface, antiquing metal is really just high-speed tarnishing. Finally the piece is polished.

While stamping provides crisp detail and relief, it does not allow for deeper three dimensional work and intricate detail. For that, lost wax casting is necessary.

Lost wax casting begins by covering a model of the desired piece with a mold. A tube is inserted with the model so that a passage into the mold is created. This is called a sprue. When the mold is hard, it is cut in half. This mold can be reused multiple times.

Next, wax is poured into the mold through the sprue. After it cools, the mold is opened and the jeweler now has a wax replica of the original piece. The replica is coated with a slurry of silica and dried. Once dry, it is heated until the slurry coating is hardened and the melted wax runs out or is burned away. The result is a mold capable of withstanding the heat of molten metal. For greater efficiency, the wax replicas are often joined together into a ‘tree’.

The slurry mold is placed in a bed of heated sand into which the metal is poured. Once cooled, the mold is broken off or dissolved in water and a metal replica, complete with spruing is the result. If the replicas were joined together into a tree, the individual pieces are cut away and the sprues are removed to be used in another process.

A tree of Everlasting Love pendants after casting.

The final steps are to remove oxidation and any signs of casting via sand blasting and hand polishing.

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Pacific Northwest Indian Jewelry

Celtic Jewelry

Jewelry FAQs

Braiding Soap Tips

February 5, 2010

The application of braiding soap helps to make a tight whip, chinstrap or lanyard. Meagan, our resident whipmaker, has a few suggestions:

Coat the entire length of all the strands with braiding soap prior to braiding. Saturate the strands, particularly near the top, on heavy work. You do not need to wait any time at all to begin braiding, though if you do it won’t hurt. Occasionally if a skin is on the dry side it will seem to drink up the soap and may benefit from a resoaping. This would especially be true if you leave it for a long time between braiding. Usually this is not necessary. It also is not necessary to resoap before rolling. The braiding soap just allows the strands to pull in more tightly when braided, which in turn makes for a smoother, rounder surface after rolling. It does not help in the rolling.

Meagan also recommends that when applying soap to each strand, it is more effective to pull the strand through the soap-filled hand rather than sliding your hand along the strand. This also allows you to hold your thumb on the top part of the strand to control the amount of soap that is applied.

And remember to lay the strands in order before soaping. You don’t want your soapy hands to have to untangle anything!

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Indiana Jones Bullwhips

How to Make Whips

Braiding Fine Leather

For Valentine’s Day: Everlasting Love Jewelry

January 29, 2010

The Celtic symbol of everlasting love – in Welsh, serch bythol – is formed from two triskeles. The triskele, a three cornered knot, denotes body, mind and spirit. When two triskeles are joined together, they form an everlasting circle of eternity. Thus the figure represents two people, joined in body, mind, and spirit in everlasting love.

Everlasting Love Bracelet: The three symbols entwined denote past, present, and future. Devolved length is 6-1/4 inches, width at the center is 3/4 inch.

Everlasting Love Earrings: These sterling silver fishhook earrings are double sided, about 1-3/16″ long.

Everlasting Love Necklet: This sterling silver necklet is double sided, about 1-3/16″ long. An 18″ sterling silver chain is included.

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Everlasting Love Jewelry

Valentine’s Day Gifts

Our Braiding Soap Recipe

January 21, 2010

Braiding soap is an emulsion of fat in a soap-and-water solution. The water in the solution conditions the lace for a greater stretch while the fat permits the leather strands to slip more tightly into place. This allows the braid to be rolled more smoothly.

The following recipe for braiding soap has been used here at David Morgan for years. We usually make the braiding soap in a recycled 2 pound coffee can where the mixture can be prepared and stored in the same can.

Ingredients

1 3.5 ounce bar of Ivory soap
12 ounces (1-1/2 cups) water
1 pound (2 cups) lard

Directions

1. Coarsely grate soap into a coffee can or pot suitable for stovetop use.

2. Add water and mix.

3. Heat the mixture almost to boiling, stirring occasionally. Take care not to overheat causing the mixture to boil over.

4. Add the lard to the hot soap mixture, continuing to heat until the lard is melted. Again, take care not to overheat causing the mixture to boil over.

5. Remove the mixture from the heat. Beat at high speed with an electric hand mixer to emulsify the fat. Take care not to splatter or spill the hot mixture.

6. Allow the mixture to cool, then mix thoroughly once more with the mixer. Transfer the mixture to a storage container at this time if you are not storing in the container used during preparation.

7. Cool completely. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Makes about 2 pounds. The braiding soap will have a light, creamy consistency.

Note: Ivory soap is recommended as a commonly available pure soap. Do not use a facial soap or detergent.

LEARN MORE ABOUT:

Braiding Fine Leather

Kangaroo Lace

How to Make Whips

Karaka Whips

Akubra Heads West

A Memorable Whip

New Panama Hats at David Morgan

New Hats from Tilley

Tulips in Western Washington

Lost Wax Casting and Stamping

Braiding Soap Tips

For Valentine’s Day: Everlasting Love Jewelry

Our Braiding Soap Recipe

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